Michelle Rhee penned an article about how to fix the public schools of Philadelphia. She says it is time for performance pay, so that there is “a great teacher” in every classroom. She apparently is unaware that merit pay has been tried for nearly a century and has never worked, not in any district. It causes teaching to the test, narrowing the curriculum, gaming the system, rivalry among colleagues, and cheating. It does not improve education.
She says that there is no point in pouring more money into a “broken” system, but does she know that the public schools of Philadelphia have been under state control for a dozen years? Who “broke” the system?
Nowhere does she mention that the district is underfunded as compared to the surrounding suburbs, nor does she mention that Governor Corbett cut the budget across the state by $1 billion, which had a disproportionate impact on struggling Philadelphia.
There is no way to avoid the state’s responsibility to fund the district adequately.
If you are anywhere near Philadelphia, you will have a chance to hear Michelle Rhee on September 16, and to hear me on September 17 at the Free Library.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Ah, the Red Queen. The one who runs about screaming, “Off with their heads” and believes six impossible things before breakfast.
The Erase to the Top Tour travels on!
Here’s the video that Terri Rector
Michal (BELOW) made and just posted
about Rhee’s appearance
in Birmingham Alabama yesterday:
Rhee mocks Hannah Nguyen at about
02:25 – 02:40 — quoting out of context
and distorting what Hannah wrote to her
in her email.
At 05:05, Terri Michal (MIKE-uhl) attempts to
voice her opinion—and others followed suit,
saying, “I did, too,” and watch how she’s
treated.
At 06:08, they rip the mic away from
her (though you can see it because
she had to hide the camera, because
cameras were not allowed… resulting
in a bad camera angle).
As the caption indicates, forum participant
Steve “unionized-teachers-are-roaches”
Perry then does not answer the Terri’s
question, but instead gives the stock
answer, or rather, non-answer, which the
crowd, stacked with corporate reformers,
applauds.
The security guards threatens to remove her.
By this point, the visual portion of the video
is black, with just audio.
Rhee brags about firing D.C.’s “ineffective”
teachers, but the truth is that these teachers
were the high-paid veterans that were fired
because of their high pay, and in spite of
their quality. She had fabricated a budget
deficit to do so. Shortly afterwards, she
claimed that the money was there after all.
A city councilman then said that if that’s
the case, hire back the teachers.
Rhee then challenged the city councilman
and those who agreed with him to enroll
their own kids in the public schools where
the fired teachers taught… while Rhee
herself doesn’t send her own kids to public
school.
At 13:15, Terri’s caption talks about Rhee
trying to stare her down… again, because
of the hidden camera, again, caused
by Rhee barring cameras from the event,
you can’t see Rhee doing so… though
you can her screaming.
Rhee then assumes, that because Terri is
white, she must some elitist who “sends her
kids to tony private schools”… without any
proof of this, as it’s not true. Terri tries to set
her straight, but is silenced by the security
guards.
Terri then continues refuting this with her
caption and a picture showing her actual
family… the picture speaks for itself.
Then at 14:38, sell-out George Parker talks
about how he and Rhee support improving
public schools side-by-side with charter
and private schools, but Terri’s caption
correctly points out that the Alabama
Accountability Act—that Rhee pumped
millions of Students First dollars into
lobbying and political races in order to get
it passed—drains the public schools of
funding and puts them into private and
charter schools.
Then at 17:14, Steve “unionized-teacher-
are-roaches” Perry talks about all you
need to attend his school are “a pulse
and an address”… and again, Terri’s
caption puts a lie to this in that the make-up
of his students are “more affluent than than
the surrounding public schools, have less
distance to travel, and are more likely to
have a bed to sleep in at night.”
(Bruce Baker, Jon Pelto, and Jersey
Jazzman have posted all the data backing
this up.)
Terri’s captions then back all of this up
with data from Jon Pelto’s website.
(NOTE how earlier, the moderator
rushed Terri, refusing to let her preface
her question with comments, with the
reasoning that they were already “in
overtime” and had to rush… yet shortly
afterwards, Parker and Perry were allowed
to run their mouths for minutes on end.)
Near the end, Terri’s caption reads:
“Thank you, Ms. Rhee for this ‘teacher
town hall’.
“You have now proven that your words
mean nothing, and you have no interest
in dialogue.
“I guarantee that you have won over
no protestors in Birmingham.
“Good luck in Philadelphia!
BAT’s will be flying!”
Let’s have a conversation. But some ground rules first. You listen. OK.
At 02:25 – 02:40, Rhee refers to an
email exchange that she had with
Hannah Nguyen, taking what Hannah
wrote her out of context and distorting
it.
It’s time to set the record straight
regarding this.
BELOW is that actual exchange.
that occurred after the first
Teacher Town Hall in Los Angeles
on Thursday, September 5, 2013.
Ms. Rhee’s condescending and
transparent attempt to cynically
co-opt Ms. Nguyen—who, to Ms.
Rhee’s dismay, became the
unplanned and most-noted “star” of
this event— and Ms. Nguyen’s
pointed response to her are
destined to become a classic
tete-a-tete in the battle to keep
our public schools truly “public”
and out of the hands of
money-motivated privatizers
such as Ms. Rhee and her
corporate allies:
———————————————————————————–
“Michelle Rhee michelle@studentsfirst.com
– – – – – – – – – –
“Hannah,
“It was great meeting you last night.
I admire your passion on the issues
and agree with you about the
importance of students’ voice in
education policy. We would like
to continue talking with you about
yourideas and explore possible and
explore possible future events in
California.
“I am copying Samantha Couch
on my team who you should stay
in touch with, but feel, but feel free
to email me, too.
“Michelle Rhee”
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
“Hannah Nguyen nbnguyen@usc.edu
– – – – – – – – – – – – –
“Michelle,
“I am amazed that after over five
years of being active in education
policy, it has taken you until NOW
to initiate any effort to listen to
student experiences and work with
students rather than making
decisions on their behalf.
“Do you not think students are
mindful enough to understand
what they want and need in their
educations and communities?
“Do you not find it in line with the
culture of ‘order’ and ‘compliance’
you perpetuate for any students
to become aware of their
circumstances and organize for
better?
“Or have you just chosen to
ignore ANY statements that don’t
align with your beliefs?
“After over five years of broken
and incomprehensive reforms that
have destroyed public schools and
disadvantaged students, students
are tired and weary of being ignored,
powerless, and compliant towards
‘authorities’ that have never
stepped foot into their classrooms
or communities.
“Student unions are springing up
all over the country. More
walk-outs and boycotts are
happening each and every year.
“In the wise words of Chicago
Public Schools’ student Israel Munoz,
‘ We don’t need education reform.
We need a student-led education
revolution.’
“And a revolution there will be.
“You can count me out on
working with you on organizing
future events. Unless you can be
honest about yourself and the
damaging effects your policies
have had on learning communities
acrossAmerica, I refuse to have my
name next to yours on any event
program.
“If these events are going to as
policed, manipulated,divisive, and
as disparaging as the Teacher
Town Hall I just unfortunately
experienced on Thursday evening,
you can count the students of
California out as well.
“Regards,
“Hannah Nguyen”
——————————————————-
Again, this is at:
Harford teachers will post here later, but Perry is a L I A R ! He pushes out kids all the time..he loses 50% and his teachers also. His famous quote is “We got to make it snow in here.”…..RECRUIT THE WHITE KIDS. He is full of $h#@!
Wow That was an amazing video by Terri Rector. When Rhee was here in DC I fell for her nonsense for about a year. After a few email conversations I stopped falling for her manipulative subtrefuge. Especially after she tried to convince me that I should place my son into a consolidated K-8 school that she created after closing a couple dozen public schools. I had asked her for a quality middle school STEM program for my emerging 7th grader and she told me to have him go to the local k-8 because the school had DIBBLES. Apparently she didn’tt know or thought that I was too stupid to know that DIBBLES is an early literacy assessment that could do nothing for my son who was already an advanced reader.
Everything she and her husband say is a bunch of ‘well sounding’ propagandistic nonsense that plays well for the cameras and has nothing to do with the realities of finding high quality education for chithe majority of children in this nation. Further the majority of charters in this city like elsewhere are as Ms. Rhee would say of the public schools -CRAP. I placed my son in middle school in a well regarded charter due to the situation above and not having an academically oriented public school (which at the time only Rhee could have corrected-but didn’t). That school allowed him to be routinely and badly bullied. I reached a point where I had to threaten the school with an OCR complaint (My son has a disability) that was the only thing that reduced the torment. And no— complaints to the DC charter school board did nothing.
I admire parents like Terri and am committed that if I ever have an opportunity to confront Rhee as you have-that I will do so. More power to you.
Don’t worry. Many of us will be out to greet Ms. Rhee and show her how a real dialogue works. I doubt that she will have the courage to come out and talk to us, though.
And we will see you Tuesday, Diane. The antidote!
Rhee is a 4-letter word. Why does anyone pay attention to this toxic troll.
Some reports on Michelle Rhee & Students First’
“Teacher Town Hall” last night (9/16.2013)
in Philadephia are at least balanced, as
evidenced by this sampling BELOW, and the
quotes excerpted.
First, there’s this most succinct tweet from Jake
Blumgart:
Jake Blumgart @jblumgart
“Favorite part of the Michelle Rhee event at Temple last night?
The bit where the moderator told an audience member to
‘shut the hell up!’ ”
—————————————————–
Michelle must have forgot to bring the duct tape.
Here’s a few more:
—————————————————-
From:
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Former-DC-Schools-Chancellor-Rhee-Philly-on-Right-Track-Education-Reform-224059321.html
“Soon, though, reports of test cheating tainted
Rhee’s reputation, and by 2010, with the election
of a new mayor, she resigned. Some who’ve
followed Rhee’s reign closely say she left DC
schools in worse shape than when she came.
Rhee disagrees, and now advocates for her
brand of education reform on the national
stage….
“… The audience bristled at times, calling
Rhee ‘disingenuous,’ while questioning the
corporate backing behind many education
reform organizations. Many audience
members also expressed displeasure with
the way organizers structured the town
hall.
“Many felt the event didn’t deliver the
‘honest conversation; that was billed, and
felt the moderator too quickly quashed the
room’s dissenting voices.
” .. ”
“Rich Migliore — who spent 20 years teaching
at (the now closed) University City High School,
and 14 as an assistant principal at various city
high schools — felt the panel spent too much
time focusing on what teachers do wrong and
not enough on how to give them the supports
to get better.
” ‘ You know they talked all about how to get
rid of bad teachers,’ said Migliore, ‘but they
didn’t talk about how to get good teachers to
come here, how to retain good teachers, and
how to create a professional, collaborative
environment within our schools.’ ”
———————————————————-
From:
http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2013/09/16/michelle-rhee-hosts-teacher-town-hall-in-philadelphia-protesters-gather/
“… But protestors gathered out front disagreed.
“Lisa Haver of the Alliance for Philadelphia
Public Schools was among the protesters
gathered out front, and she feels that if
Michelle Rhee really had the best interest
of students in mind she would tell Governor
Corbett to release the $45 million in funding
earmarked for Philadelphia Schools.
“ ‘I think if she were really for students
she would say to the governor we need
that money right now, we’ll work out
the rest of the stuff at the negotiating table,’
Haver said.
“Haver says having the Governor re-invest
in public education would make the biggest
change.
“To restore the cuts that he’s made over the
past 2-years, and to make sure that our school
district, like others, has enough for students
to learn – counselors, nurses, librarians,
support staff,” Haver said.
“The protestors also say Rhee is anti-teacher,
and anti-union — claims she disputes.”
—————————–
From:
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Radical-Education-Reformers-Bring-Ideas-to-Philadelphia-223947411.html
“Less of a typical town hall, the event was
more controlled with participants pre-writing
questions on cards, which were then asked
by the moderator. By the end, however, a
handful of inquires were posed directly from
the attendee.
“The Teacher Town Hall is meant to bring
differing viewpoints together to have a frank
discussion, Rhee says.
“However, the dissenting opinion was
noticeably missing. Not because opponents
are being silenced, but rather, the voices were
not there.
“With the exception of two loud educators who
attempted to counterpoint each panelist’s answer
before being told to shut up by the crowd, the
city’s most vocal education advocates, including
Philadelphia Federation of Teachers President
Jerry Jordan, took part in a separate town hall
discussion at the same time Monday evening.
“Philadelphia Federation of Teachers Spokesman
George Jackson says the city’s education
advocates wanted to show a ‘contrast in
approaches’ to education reform.
“ ‘When we can truly say that our schools are
getting the resources they need, we can
certainly discuss and debate Rhee’s ideas on
education. But right now, we have a real crisis
on our hands….And unlike Michelle Rhee, we
don’t get to drop in to town, push our agenda
and move on,’ Jackson said.”
Hannah gave her a run for her money in LA, I did the best I could in AL, who’s gonna take her on in PA? Make your voice heard!! Many say it is a waste of time but we have to understand that in taking on Rhee we aren’t trying to change HER, we are trying to educate the public. They have billions of dollars for marketing and PR, all we have is our creativity and our voices…
Agreed. Your video post on the Alabama Stop Common Core Facebook page is great! Wish I could have been there, but live too far away to have made it on a school night. Now, what are we going to do about the BEA of Alabama?
Thank you for your effort, Terri, your video was awesome! And you are right, it’s about each of us stepping up!
Terri Rector Michal: thank you!
Nothing spoils an eduproduct launch or a logo celebration more than a pointed question or two.
🙂
Too bad the two of you won’t be in the same place on the same day at the same time…
Did anyone attend Paul Vallas’ appearance at Elmhurst College (Elmhurst, IL) on Thursday, 9/12? (It was two days after Diane’s appearance there.) If so, did you or anyone there ask him some pointed questions/make comments? I wish I could have gone!
Not to worry; if you check the comments on the Philly.com article, you’ll note that there’s not a single one that doesn’t blast Rhee and tell her to go away. Part of it is, her piece is so full of mistakes and misinterpretations that anyone who’s paid even cursory attention to the situation in Philly can see she has no idea what she’s talking about. A prime example is her idiotic statement on assignments:
At this time, under the <a href="http://www.pft.org/images/pdfs/28102_PFT_v6%20-%20Final.pdf#page=24current contract, about 50% of teaching positions are filled by site selection; that is, they are filled by the school’s hiring committee looking at the teachers who apply for those positions. The committees are composed of administrative, teacher, and parent representatives with equal voting power and chosen by their own constituencies. This process also takes place before the assignments by seniority are done. Some other assignment processes (like retaining a temporary assignment teacher at the same school) already work on the cooperative process (i.e., the teacher and principal agree to do so.) But what the district is proposing on this point is to change all assignments to site selection but have the committee composed of the principal plus one teacher and one parent that are appointed by the principal. In other words, they want to move from our current cooperative system where all stakeholders actually have a voice to one where the principals have all control. Hardly the model of “mutual consent”.
So Rhee is completely out to lunch on this one. She knows neither what the current system is (which she could have discovered by reading the very same contract document I linked to above, since it’s publicly available) nor what the change being pushed would actually do to that system. This pretty much follows the pattern of most of her other points as well. As Diane has pointed out, she seems to be unaware that the state has been running the SDP since 2001 and that the “financial transparency” she calls for (and the only thing she’s actually right about) was supposed to be one of the things they were going to impose on the district. Instead, the citizens of Philadelphia know even less about where the money goes than we did before. Even when she stumbles onto an actual problem (instead of her typical created ones) she can’t even get the cause right nor can she offer a workable or even credible solution. Fortunately, the citizens of Philly seem ready to tell her to pack up her carpet bag and get out of our fair city.
Rhee (or her ghostwriters) must be burning out. This brief piece of writing by Rhee could become a lesson plan in nonsensical propagandizing on the part of the hacks of corporate school reform. It rings all the usual bells, briefly of course, and avers, “sincerely” of course, that Philadelphia schools need more money, but repeats, predictably, of course, that “money alone…” won’t solve Philadelphia’s public school problems.
Like a lot of the erstwhile icons of corporate reform propaganda, Rhee has been spiraling downward, of late. She has gone a long way since “Waiting for Superman” and that crazed cover of TIME magazine. This is happening despite the enormous number of plutocratic dollars and propaganda being showered on her, since Adrian Fenty lost the D.C. mayoral election and Rhee made her dramatic exit, in the pages of The Wall Street Journal, etc., etc., etc.
The verdict, of course, is in now. Rhee’s test cheating while running D.C.’s schools is an open secret, and all her doubletalk can’t erase those bubbles. Like most of the other powerful pushers of corporate schools reform, Rhee can only survive when she has the stage completely to herself, as in this Op Ed thingy. Any serious questions based on fact or history and she has to duck and run. If the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers had a stronger and more consistent voice against the corporate reform frauds (Hite) or political hacks (Nutter), the laughing would put an end to many of their shopworn cliches.
“the laughing would put an end to many of their shopworn cliches”
That’s exactly the case. People like this Philistine Rhee need to be laughed off the stage, but the U.S. teacher’s unions have become shills for the corporate reform juggernaut–backing egregiously poorly conceived standards [sic] in ELA and testing to those, and so there has been no organization of the laugh track.
The new CCSS in ELA should have been met with a chorus of derision. Clearly, we have people in leadership positions in the teacher’s unions who don’t know the first thing about teaching English. Otherwise, they would be appalled by what the small group of amateurs who created the CCSS in ELA foisted on the country with no discussion and no vetting.
Until teachers take back their unions and give them some real leadership, nothing will change.
Careful with this one. You’re conflating all teachers unions into one big mass, but the real situation is a lot more subtle.
It’s the national parent unions that have been complicit in advocating for CCSS (i.e., the NEA and the AFT) while the local union affiliates (like our own PFT here in Philly) have had very little to do with this issue. That’s mostly because the local affiliates have been in the trenches on even more basic and immediate issues and haven’t had CCSS and all that it brings with it at the forefront of their concerns. Once the effects hit, you’ll see the locals start to take a very keen and (I have no doubt) negative interest in CCSS. But as it is, the locals are fighting just to keep ahead of the current attacks on seniority, tenure, pay/benfits, work rules, and other “bread-and-butter” issues. They might or might not (as organizations) see the disaster coming, but they’re so busy fighting the current fire they don’t have much time left over for worrying about checking for fire hazards in the next building, even though the very same arsonists who set the current one on fire are busily torching the next one while the firefighters are distracted.
Rhee is a No Read.
Waste of Time
When I think about Michelle Rhee, I’m reminded of Adlai Stevenson’s description of Richard Nixon. He said that Nixon was the type of politician who would cut down a old, tall, Redwood, and then stand on the stump to make a speech about “conservation”.
Here’s Michelle Rhee, mouthpiece for The Privatizers, who opened up the first charters in 1991, twenty two years ago. They’ve imposed this “Testing To Beat The Band” regimen virtually everywhere, which has has horrible results, for schools, teachers and students, but which has made companies like Pearson even much more wealthier than they were in the recent past. They’ve supported the disgraceful underfunding of our schools and have even cited and “honored” many of the legislators responsible for this.
Rhee and her fellow privatizers own the results of the past 20 years; if they think our current schools are so “bad”, why aren’t they looking in the mirror instead of blaming the victims of these terrible policies?
So, in a nutshell, Rhee and her cohorts impose all sorts of ineffective and time-waisting changes on the schools. Then, they underfund them. They denigrate and demoralize our teachers—while claiming to “love” teachers and “support” them—and then demonize the schools for failing to attract the very best students into the teaching field.
And when some of these schools—particularly in poor areas—are literally crumbling with a demoralized faculty and staff, and kids who know how shabbily they’re being treated—they then actually have the audacity to BLAME the principal, teachers, parents and students for the horrible shape these schools are in today.
And why do Rhee and her enablers think they WON’T get called on this in the public arena? Maybe because no one in the media has done it ever before, giving Rhee and company ample reason to believe that they’ll never be called on this again in the future.
But, it’s up to each of us, as citizen bloggers, letter writers, and personal persuaders of those who ARE our friends in the media, to contact them, educate them—you wouldn’t believe the number of writers I’ve spoken . Most people, studies show, are generally no more than “six degrees of separation” from a journalist who can make a difference.
Let’s all think about friends, co-workers, neighbors, old classmates and the like: we’ll be surprised at how relatively easy it is to find a connection to people in the media who DO want to know about the Michelle Rhee Scandal.
Let’s get to work on it!
“ensured that its expenditures and the outcomes they created were transparent to the legislators and the public. ”
Amusing. Hasn’t Philadelphia had huge problems with financial accountability and transparency for charters?
Also, the governor of Pennsylvania last week called for “reform” of the cybercharter industry in Pennsylvania. Is Rhee unaware of the problems there, where cybercharters were given a huge gift in a skewed funding formula? Every public school in that state is being robbed by cybercharters. It’s common knowledge. They can’t get a fix through the legislature because of cybercharter lobbyist capture of their statehouse.
Real, specific problems she could have addressed, but instead we get the op ed she plants in every state. She’s dumbing down the discourse. The debate on reform in Pennsylvania is way, way past this 6th grade level analysis. I live in Ohio and I’m not a full-time, well-compensated ed reform lobbyist and I know this. Why doesn’t she know it?
I demand higher standards for ed reform lobbyists! We can do much, much better 🙂
I don’t understand why there is all this talk about “a great teacher” in every classroom. What is happening, at least in my city, is that our district has downloaded, copied, an distributed copies of modules and scripted lesson plans from engage.ny, and is expecting each teacher to stick to the script. So much so that, central office personnel patrol the buildings making sure that every teacher is on point. How is that great teaching? All you would really need is a robot – technology – to parrot what is on the paper, but I guess that is really what they want. Robots don’t need salaries, join unions, have pensions or need health care. Somehow, I don’t see a robot with a heart which can care about children or actually affect a child’s life, but hey, what do I know, I only spent 22 years in a classroom, and I never stuck to a script.
Pearson/Scott Foresman Common Core Reading Street series is nothing but a script. You don’t even have to have a teacher’s edition…just pull it up on the SMART Board and that’s it. Even a caveman can teach reading if he falls for Pearson’s nonsense!
Merit pay in Philly? Where, pray tell, would the money come from for those bonuses?
Again, here’s Terri Michal’s video from Rhee’s Birmingham
“Teacher Town Hall”:
Here are Hannah Nguyen’s opinions about this.
HANNAH NGUYEN:
“I had been in contact with Terri over the past week since she saw the video of my speech, and I had been helping her prepare for the Teacher Town Hall in Alabama, so that she could make sure that her voice was heard. I am very excited to read her full report on the protest both outside and inside the event. She was one of the few outside protestors who attended the event, and I am very glad that she did and that she fought to have her voice heard. I am, however, equally horrified at the panelists’ and moderator’s (who I believe is Rhee’s husband? correct me if I’m wrong) responses.
The bullying and intimidation tactics in this video on the part of the panelists is absolutely revolting. The tactics they used to silence the opposition is ridiculous (though not surprising). Their avoiding to answer the questions is utterly embarrassing. Almost everything the panelists said in this video were the same exact talking points that they used at the last event. Rhee even mentions me at 2:13, and completely twists her encounter with me, not-so-ironically while I am not there to defend myself (Terri’s commentary tells the TRUTH that I reported to Terri over twitter). Typical reformy tactics. They can dish but they can’t take.
This event was just as controlled, manipulative, and oppressive as the last. I can’t say I’m surprised at the reformers, but that doesn’t make me any less disgusted. Thank goodness for the brave people in this video who fought to have the true voices of those in the Birmingham educational community heard!
Tomorrow, Rhee’s next stop will be in Philadelphia. I am way too excited to see what will happen there. I’ve been in contact with the Philly Student Union and they have confirmed their attendance. Diane Ravitch might also attend since the event coincides with her book tour. With the recent state of public education in Philly amid drastic budget cuts… the event should be nothing less than interesting… Stay tuned!
Students, if you will be attending the event, I just want you to remember that NO ONE can tell you what’s best for you. You have the power to think for yourself and have a voice in your education, and you shouldn’t let ANYONE (no matter how much great-sounding propaganda they throw at you) take that away from you.
Everyone else, please spread this Terri’s video like fire! This is SUCH an important piece of the truth, especially with Terri’s amazing added commentary on the video. We cannot let Rhee and her cronies get away with the dangerous propaganda they spread!
The distress the Philadelphia school district is in, with major help from Michelle Rhee, is reflected in these two columns today from Philly papers:
Bykofsky: Teachers, students both victims
http://tinyurl.com/ldhmguy
My Son Starts Kindergarten in Philly Today. Are We Crazy?
http://tinyurl.com/ka954v9
Rhee- “Students deserve great teachers who inspire, academic classes that challenge, robust art, music, and sports programs, and a fair shot at long-term success.”
Now you’re talkin’ Michelle, More Cowbell! At least we can all agree on that.
Can’t have a conversation with a crazy person.
Looking at the comments below the article on philly.com it’s obvious that the number of people who know Rhee is a completer fraud grows every time she opens her mouth. They are also well aware that events like this are propaganda fests, not dialog. Like Palin, Rhee has become her own worst enemy and in a bizarre way, aids our cause by continuing her preposterous lies.
Diane,
Happy to hear that you will be there on 9/17 to correct all the errors made tonight. And to cheer Philadelphia up after 9/16. It seems appropriate that you will be in one of the cities that needs you the most, on the day that Reign of Error officially launches. Congratulations and all best!
How can you take anyone seriously who says “I agree with (PA governor) Corbett” in regards to education? Rhee actually said that. The man has done immeasurable harm to schools and students in Pennsylvania. Rhee is out to lunch.
I read in Rhee’s rhetoric about “mutual consent” – here in Colorado- Well at least in Denver Public Schools – a teacher who has been RIBBED in a school and needs to find another position must find “Mutual Consent”. So— a veteran teacher with outstanding reviews who has been “reduced in building” has to go against a beginning teacher or a “TFA” to find a position of “mutual consent”. In a “Portfolio District” where every school is vying for students and having to manage its own budget, veteran teachers are not even being granted interviews – it is all about the “buck$$$”. That is why, here in Denver, CO, there are talks about age discrimination and a possible class action lawsuit for said discrimination.